While everyone has been glued to their television screens watching the Tokyo Olympics, there were a number of major athletic events held in the leadup to this worldwide competition.
Logistically these sporting events are massive, just ask Active Air who managed cooling requirements for the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Queensland.
Following the success of the Commonwealth Games Active Air was called upon once again to provide support in Tokyo, Japan, last year.
The prestigious sporting event had strict requirements to maintain comfortable conditions for both athletes and spectators.
As a result Active Air was contracted to provide rental air conditioning for a number of large temporary structures, totalling 170,000 m3.
Based on an ambient temperature of 38°C, an internal temperature of 24°C had to be maintained at all times.
Providing a total of 3,600 kW of cooling capacity, Active Air was able to meet these requirements and play a small part in the success of the event.
The cooling plant was made up of air-cooled chillers, air handlers, pumps, and over two kilometres of flexible chilled water hoses.
Due to the physical size of the structures, a computer modelling system was used to design the internal fabric ductwork that distributed the conditioned air within the structures.
The equipment was shipped to Japan in twelve 40-foot containers and installed and commissioned by Active Air technicians. Two technicians were on site for the entire event, ensuring the system ran without fault.
The project was made that much harder by the onset of COVID-19. The Active Air team had to work under very difficult conditions, often away from their families for extended periods of time and dealing with multiple hotel quarantine stays.
It is this “Can-Do” attituded, support by great equipment and design capabilities, that allows Active Air to complete some of the largest and most difficult temporary projects in the world.
Gold medal logistics
More than 11,000 athletes competed at the Tokyo Olympics in 339 sporting events across 40+ venues.
Athletes from 205 different nations travelled to Japan along with thousands of tonnes of equipment and supplies.
Hundreds of containers arrived at the ports of Tokyo and Yokohama.
Officials stayed at the Olympic Village, a set of 21 high-rise residential buildings in the centre of Tokyo.There are 28 Olympic venues within 10 km of the village, including the Japan National Stadium. There are 14 other venues further away.
Thanks to COVID-19 millions of masks had to be sent to the village along with alcohol sprays and hand sanitisers. The Australian Olympic team’s five containers included 75,000 masks, 544 bottles of hand sanitiser and 40,000 disinfectant wipes.
Getting goods from the ports to the village was one of the biggest hurdles as traffic congestion is a serious problem in Tokyo.
More than 37 million people live in the greater metropolitan area.